I found this beauty at RMAF this year. Clearaudio TT2 was only displayed as a static sample. I did my groundwork first two days and went back Sunday afternoon. I was refused at first but eventually was led to the president of Musical Surroundings and I was able to make a deal. Garth was a very pleasant person to deal with.

Anyway, I got a never used piece as a demo deal. I took it home with me on the plane and hooked it up. It took me two full days to get it right. The written instruction was not the best but I figured it out eventually. With the aid of a digital scale, included alignment tool and Analog Test LP I got it tracking perfectly -- the needle is in perfect line from outer most groove to the inner most groove. It helped that I could level my La Platine Verdier table on the fly. It is very important that the arm ( and the table) is level to make sure there is no "skating."

I haven't done any critical comparison with inner grooves and all that but I am really liking the whole presentation right now. I will eventually do some testing but I am just enjoying the arm right now. Aesthetix Io Eclipese and original Sugano Koetsu Rosewood retipped and cleaned out by Peter Lederman round out the chain. There is something special going on here and I am going to just enjoy for a while before I get analytical about the sound.

I thought I saw Hagerman Trumpet in a picture. Did you ditch it in favor of Vinnie's Lio phono? What's your resonance frequency with that Miyajima cart?

The Trumpet was a very long time ago. I've since had a Zesto and a few DIY stages, but now just use the LIO. I don't know the exact resonance, though the Kansui is fairly low compliance. The T3 seems to handle it just fine, despite it's very low mass.

The Trumpet was a very long time ago. I've since had a Zesto and a few DIY stages, but now just use the LIO. I don't know the exact resonance, though the Kansui is fairly low compliance. The T3 seems to handle it just fine, despite it's very low mass.

Koetsu is stiff too and the "arm" on TT2 is very light as well. Analog Test tracks indicate that I am getting resonance between 15 and 20Hz although I am not experiencing any troubles playing bass rich LPs. I may add some weight to the cart and see if that will move the resonance down below 12Hz.